This gentleman was Christianity's first great villain.

The first paragraph below indicates his significance.

From the Wikipedia article:

Marcion of Sinope' (Greek: Μαρκίων Σινώπης, ca. 85-160) was a well known bishop in early Christianity. His theology, which rejected the deity described in the Jewish scriptures as inferior or subjugated to the God proclaimed in the christian gospel, was denounced by the Church Fathers and he was excommunicated. His rejection of many books contemporarily considered scripture in the catholic part of the church prompted this church to develop a catholic canon of scriptures.

Prior to doing this research, I’d had no notion he was this early. That he was a bishop, means there weren’t just Christians and churches in his environ; there were so many churches as to require a bishop. So, there were Christians. I’ll not do the arithmetic just now as to how long this pre-dates Constantine, but for sure these dates mean Constantine did not invent Christianity.

Notable are his attitudes toward TaNaKh and HaShem:

According to bishop Marcion, the god of the Old Testament, whom he called the Demiurge, the creator of the material universe, is a jealous tribal deity of the Jews, whose law represents legalistic reciprocal justice and who punishes mankind for its sins through suffering and death. Contrastingly, the god that Jesus professed is an altogether different being, a universal god of compassion and love who looks upon humanity with benevolence and mercy.

* * *
Marcion was the first to propose a New Testament canon. His canon consisted of only eleven books grouped into two sections: the Evangelikon, being a version of the Gospel of Luke, and the Apostolikon, a selection of ten letters of Paul the Apostle who Marcion considered the correct interpreter and transmitter of Jesus' teachings. Both sections were purged of elements relating to Jesus' childhood, Judaism, and material challenging Marcion's dualism. Marcion also produced his Antitheses contrasting the Demiurge of the Old Testament with the Heavenly Father of the New Testament.


For there to have been a version of the Gospel of Luke, there must have been a Gospel of Luke. These dates mean Constantine did not invent Christianity’s scriptures, and cannot have invented Christianity.

If you want a real jolt, check out the article on “Gospel of Maricon.”

P.

“What I admire is honesty and truth, no matter who, or what, the sources are.”
— Uri Yosef